I Will Be
by miley-avril
Summary: Charming family fluff: Emma has her family back, and she's determined not to screw up. Songfic to Avril Lavinge's "I Will Be". Rated T for language.


**I'M EMMA/SNOW (MM) DEPRIVED FROM LAST WEEK SO… THAT'S HOW THIS WAS BORN. I KNOW I'M SUPPOSED TO POST GREMMA. I WILL, I PROMISE! I JUST NEED SOME IDEAS. LASTLY, I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TENSE THIS WAS WRITTEN IN. I MEAN, OBVIOUSLY NOT FIRST, BUT IT'S KIND OF WEIRD. IT'S JUST HOW MY FINGERS DECIDED TO TYPE, SO MY APOLOGIES IF IT'S ROUGH.**

**DON'T OWN IT. SHOW BELONGS TO ABC AND THE SONG IS BY AVRIL LAVIGNE.**

_There's nothing I could say to you  
Nothing I could ever do to make you see  
What you mean to me  
All the pain, the tears I cried  
Still you never said goodbye and now I know  
How far you'd go_

Emma surprised Snow one night nearly 3 months after the curse had been broken. James had taken Henry bowling, so they had the apartment to themselves. They were eating dinner and the blonde had simply dropped her fork, a loud 'clank' ringing through the small space. Snow looked up, expecting fury to be in the other woman's eyes, and mentally braced herself for another rant session. Instead, her daughter looked at her with broken, teary eyes.

"Emma, what's wrong?" Snow was immediately on red alert.

"I… I don't know how to say this. I don't know what to do…" Her voice hitched. "You have always been here for me, even when I pushed you away or, or hurt you, or all of the shitty stuff I did. You would've rather died than let me die alone… and I've repaid you by being unappreciative and angry. Even as Mary Margaret, you never stopped helping me. I don't know how to thank you for that… for listening to me when I sounded crazy, for holding me while I cried, and for never leaving me alone." The words came out in a rush, almost so fast that Snow couldn't understand. But she did. It was the first time anybody had seen her break down since the whole 'I'm not used to someone putting me first' incident, which neither had spoken about because it had been too painful on both sides.

* * *

_I know I let you down but it's not like that now  
This time I'll never let you go  
I will be all that you want and get myself together  
'Cause you keep me from falling apart_

_All my life, I'll be with you forever  
To get you through the day and make everything okay_

The second time she surprised them was out of the blue as well, while the three of them were watching Henry play tag with the kids at school who suddenly wanted to be his friend.

"I'm sorry." She said, her face worn and the wind whipping hair in it. She didn't look at them. Snow and James exchanged a look before he spoke.

"For what?" He was tempted to tack on 'Sweetheart', but it was still too soon for that.

"I'm no princess. I've made a lot of mistakes. I gave my kid up, I've done drugs, and I've done so many horrible things. How can you be proud of that?"

"Emma…" Snow breathed. "You're only human. People make mistakes."

"Yeah, okay." She gave a humorless chuckle. "The only thing that's royal about me is my ability to screw up."

"No, Baby Girl, it's not." James pulled her close. "Are you happy?"

"Yes." Emma responded tearfully.

"Then that's all I care about." He placed a kiss on the top of her head, a gesture she normally would've shrunk away from. But today, she needed it; she's needed it her whole life, but hadn't realized up until now how much she wanted it. So, she leaned into him. Snow took her hands.

"Emma, you are a survivor. You did what you had to to survive. I –we– could _never_ be mad or embarrassed at that. It just makes us more proud." Snow said forcefully. The blonde gave them a watery smile, then laughed self-consciously, swiping at her eyes.

* * *

_I thought that I had everything  
I didn't know what life could bring  
But now I see, honestly  
You're the one thing I got right  
The only one I let inside  
Now I can breathe 'cause you're here with me_

Henry wasn't around for the third time. He was with August, attempting to build something for Emma as a birthday present. Snow was reading a book, James was out dealing with Grumpy, and the blonde was looking between her mother and the TV. After nearly five minutes, Snow cleared her throat, chuckling a little.

"Is there something you'd like to talk about, Emma?"

"I um…" Damn that woman's ability to see right through her. "I just… I wanna say… I'm glad you're here. I mean… ugh, I'm so bad at this." Emma sighed. "I'm glad I have you. I thought, when I first came to town, I thought all I needed was Henry. And then slowly, you wormed your way into my heart. When I needed you, you were always there. You still are. Every other time I'd had a friend, they just wanted something from me. All you want from me is to know me. I still can't believe it at times. You were my first best friend. And even now, even though you're my mom…I…I know I'm safe. And I don't have to be so guarded all the time. So thanks."

"Well that was a mouthful." Snow smiled. "And all of it was entirely true." She reached across the table and squeezed her daughter's hands.

* * *

_And if I let you down, I'll turn it all around  
'Cause I would never let you go_

Emma was officially trying to kill Regina with a look. Merely twenty minutes before, Henry had dropped an old teacup that had been in James' family forever. The poor boy had started crying, apologizing left in right. Even six months after breaking free from his adoptive mother, Henry was still scared at times. Realizing his reaction was created by Regina, Emma had taken it upon herself to do something.

"Emma, Honey, what are you doing?" James asked, 20 feet away. The only thing keeping him from charging at Regina was Snow's tight grip on his arm.

"My son had a panic attack this morning because you," She shoved a finger into the ex-mayor's shoulder, "put the fear of god into him. You better have a damn good explanation."

"I'm a control freak." The brunette knew it was a lame excuse, but her voice was still strong.

"I think we should intervene." James whispered to Snow.

"You know what? Let's just wait a second." She smirked. Her husband nodded, trusting her. Just as she thought, Emma punched Regina. Snow let go of James and he pulled the blonde away.

"I agree I deserved that one." Regina wiped some blood from her lip. "Happy now?"

Emma tilted her head to both sides before responding, "No, but much better."

"I second that." James glared at her before leading the blonde away.

"I'm sorry." Emma looked like a scared little kid during a thunderstorm. "I just, I needed to do that. I know it wasn't mature and it was wrong, and I'm really, really sorry. I promise I won't do it ever again because I know I just embarrassed you."

"Emma, baby, calm down." James brushed a lock of her blonde curls to the side. "I'm not mad."

"You –you're not? But I punched somebody in the face for a reason that wasn't self-defense."

"Eh, she deserved it." He grinned mischievously. "You shouldn't do it every day, but…" He shrugged. "I'll let it slide."

"Actually, it _was_ pretty awesome." Then Snow snapped back into mother mode. "But you're right, it was wrong. I'm not going to make you apologize."

"Oh. Okay." Emma looked dumbfounded. "Wow. I thought you both would be super pissed."

"Honey, it's incredibly hard to be mad at you." Snow stroked her cheek.

"Too much contact." The blonde pulled back.

"What do you say, take Henry out for an ice cream celebration?"

"You got me with the ice cream laughed." Emma laughed. "And um, I know it's kind of hard to believe with the way I'm acting… but I –I love you guys. I'm not leaving." Both Snow and James stared at her in shock, tears in their eyes. "Oh no, no, no, no. Don't cry. I didn't mean to make you guys upset."

"We're not, Honey. We're just happy." Snow assured her.

* * *

_Without you I can't breathe  
I'm not gonna ever, ever let you leave  
You're all I got, you're all I want, oh  
'Cause without you I don't know what I'd do  
I can never, ever live a day without you  
Here with me, do you see you're all I need?_

"Maybe this is for the best." Snow said, staring out the window at the rain, playing with her ring. "She and Henry need to have a life, not us bossing them around."

"No." Came Emma's strong, confident, forceful voice from the bottom of the stairs. "I want you guys here. Don't you see that? I don't care how many times you walk out that door thinking it's best, I'm going to find you. I mean, I finally found my family and you want to leave, just like everybody else. What. The. Hell?"

"Emma, no, we're not leaving you for good. We just thought you might want the apartment to you and Henry, that's all. We don't even have to go if you don't want us to. I mean, it was just an idea."

"I don't want you to." Emma crossed her arms, fighting back tears.

"Baby…" James rushed to her side, engulfing her in a bear hug. "We wouldn't ever leave you."

"Ever." Snow reiterated.

"But then why were you thinking about moving?" She regained some control of her emotions.

"To give you and Henry the space you need to be mother and son. We were still going to invite you guys for dinner every night and have family activities almost every day after school."

"Ok." Emma believed them. "Just don't give me another heart attack, okay?"

"We're staying put." James declared.

"Good. Cause you me, Henry, Snow, we're all a family. And family sticks together."


End file.
